Let's All Take a Day Off

I love all the things I do. But sometimes it’s an embarrassment of riches.

This week I felt that if I saw the I Love Lucy episode about vitameatavegamin tonic, I would have called the number on the screen and ordered not a bottle but a case.

Maybe it was the head cold that hit last Thursday and slid outward to my ears Friday afternoon. Maybe it was the 9-5 job, the grandkids spending three days at the house during the week (even though our son and his fiancée did most of the duties during the day), the freelance articles that kept me interviewing very interesting people and trying to write up the subject matter or the never-ending pile of books that publishers have been sending me to review or even the snoring husband. Whatever, I’m exhausted.

Now everything I mentioned, I love doing and I don’t want to stop doing any of it. I had a three day weekend and worked the entire time. If I wasn’t writing, I was running errands, cooking, baking, reading and trying to be an amateur counselor.

Our daughter’s fifth wedding anniversary is coming up. Normally I’d have my daughter, her husband and the rest of the family over for dinner to celebrate. I am so not doing that this year. First off, I have three books to read, four columns to write, three book reviews to submit, an article on Alzheimer’s and M-power and one on two of the latest forms of breast cancer treatment. Oh, a dentist appointment and the usual household errands. This is just my list for Saturday and Sunday.

And as I mentioned before: I AM TIRED!

I’m betting I’m not the only one who feels this way. I’ve been taking a mental poll of those I talk to. Like anyone, I always say, “How are you?” at the beginning of a conversation or e-mail. Most of the answers come back as ,“Really tired, how are you?”

We all do too much. I’m thinking a lot lately that slowing down would be so much fun to try.

Yes, a week without going to the day job, a week without loading my cart at three different types of markets or a week without getting up at 7:00 a.m (and 6 a.m. on the weekdays) on the weekends to “hurry and get to our errands” and a week without my desk calendar looking as if I should staple another row of boxes onto the right side. This would be so nice.

Of course I also realize somewhere around day three that I’d be bored silly and wondering, “What the heck was I thinking?” But still I’d like to try this experiment. And I do mean staying at home, not doing a “staycation” or leaving on an actual vacation—just clearing my calendar.

I do not want to use it for doctors’ appointments, either.

Here’s a thought, let’s all decide to try an experiment (No, not for a week). Let’s chose a day of protest. We will not do anything that could be remotely defined as work, enjoyable or not.